Comments on: Is Patriotism Manly?

By: hillmatt

hillmatt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:03:48 +0000

Serving your country is manly, blindly supporting your country without questioning anything that goes on is stupid and un-American.

By: Darren Meyer

Darren Meyer — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:11:16 +0000

Hm, a lot of the nay-sayers seem to be coming down on the fools who will stand behind their government even when that government is making terrible mistakes. The thing is, that’s not patriotism — the people doing that might *think* they’re patriots, but they aren’t.

Patriotism is the love of one’s COUNTRY, not its government or its decisions. I live in the US, and I’m proud to live here. I also think our government of late has gotten out of hand with its security theater, its attempts to protect people from themselves, and so on.

My country is the people that live and work in it — so being patriotic means, in part, trying to make my country a better place for its people. Sometimes (a lot, actually), that means speaking out against the current government; and, ultimately, voting in a new one.

By: MarkR

MarkR — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:14:05 +0000

Please forgive me for posting on an older thread, and, as I haven’t read all of the comments yet, if this has been brought up before.

Mark Twain said, “Loyalty to the country always, loyalty to the government when it deserves it.” It seems to me if you substitute patriotism for loyalty in his quote, you have a pretty good way of approaching this.

I think it is very “manly” to support the ideals on which our country was founded and which have developed over our history. However, blindly following demogogues and charlatans who misuse these ideals, be they in government or elsewhere, is not.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:56:11 +0000

Patriotism is manly. The Founding Fathers were manly men, and patriots. Yet if they had exhibited “blind patriotism,” they would likely not have begun the revolution at all, being completely loyal to mother England.

By: Wrench

Wrench — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:02:25 +0000

Why should it be ‘manly’ to pledge your allegiance to whatever government’s territory you were born under? I prefer to put humanity before governments. I would rather not give my service to any government, especially my service in military matters, because I consider giving up my ability to think and act free of external authorities essential to conducting myself in an ethical manner. Following orders and putting yourself in a position where you’re obligated, under threat, to follow orders, might be manly, but it isn’t wise if you value your own judgment. Far more atrocities have been committed in the name of patriotism, nationalism, order, even ‘manliness’ than have been committed in the name of rebellion.

By: Secret Storms

Secret Storms — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:55:20 +0000

LOYALTY is manly. Patriotism is a form of loyalty that can be manly, but itself is not the core of manliness that loyalty is.

By: Randall C. Stufflebeam

Randall C. Stufflebeam — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:13:51 +0000

Jon, agreed. Unconstitutional behaviour is not patriotic nor is it manyly.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:42:15 +0000

It depends on the type of patriotism involved. If you are pushing for war under the guise of “fighting terrorism” or “going after of WMD’s” then that type of patriotism is not manly in any sense. On the other hand if you enlist for genuinely selfless reasons, and only you can tell if this is so, then this is manly.

By: Randall C. Stufflebeam

Randall C. Stufflebeam — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:29:30 +0000

I apologize but let me add to the definitions that have already been provided.

Patriot
1. A person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and
its interests with devotion.
2. A person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual
rights, against presumed interference by the federal government.

patriot. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1).
Random House, Inc.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/patriot (accessed:
July 06, 2008).

In these definitions there isn’t anything that would remotely give you the idea that there could be anything blind about patriotism. Let me emphatically state that there is no such thing as â€œblind patriotism!â€? If it’s blind, it is anything but patriotic. Now I concede that there might be blind loyalism, but patriotism does not permit blindness.

Consider our founding fathers of United States of America. Who could say they were anything but Patriotic AND MANLY, especially the ones who signed the Declaration of Independence (which we just celebrated incidentally)? We tend to forget that to sign the Declaration of Independence was to commit an act of treason — and the punishment for treason was death.

Our Founding Fathers pledged, â€œOur Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honorâ€? to the cause of freedom and liberty. These men were true patriots. Take Thomas Nelson Jr. of Virginia for instance, who raised $2 million for the patriots’ cause on his own personal credit. The government never reimbursed him, and repaying the loans wiped out his entire estate. During the battle of Yorktown, his house, which had been seized by the British, was occupied by General Cornwallis. Nelson quietly urged the gunners to fire on his own home. They did so, destroying it. He was never again a man of wealth. He died bankrupt and was buried in an unmarked grave.

I’ve got to say, â€œI completely agree with Lewis. Also, I agree with Chris that, â€œThe real manly thing to do is to have the integrity to admit it when your country is wrong.â€? However, I’m not sure what Chris means by supporting â€œOther side.â€? If you mean taking a stand for what is right and doing what you can to change what is wrong, then I would agree â€“ That’s manly. But if you mean by the other side, those who would burn the flag and call our returning vets baby killers, etc., then I would STRONGLY disagree with you.

I can only pray that I can be a patriot that our founding fathers were.

PATRIOTISM IS MANLY!!

By: Manuel

Manuel — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:25:56 +0000

I agree with some of the fellow readers. I think patriotism is manly, but nationalism is very wrong. I believe there is a confusion between love of country(patriotism), and blindly following your country right or wrong(nationalism)

By: beads

beads — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:08:53 +0000

I go with the comments that patriotism is good, jingoism bad. Australians are generally cautious about patriotism (part of trying to look laconic like we think we’re supposed to), but I had a great lesson in positive patriotism tonight. A mate of ours comes from the US, and she and her Aussie husband came over to our place to celebrate July 4th. We decorated the room with little flags, ate fried chicken followed by apple pie, and generally had a good time. Our mate recited the Gettysburg address, followed by the start of the Declaration of Independence, and it was quite moving to see how proud she was of the noble sentiments they expressed. She is a strong critic of a lot of what is going on in the US right now, but that doesn’t affect her pride in the aspirations of the people. That’s how patriotism should be. Happy Independence Day!

By: Andrew Barbour

Andrew Barbour — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:00:04 +0000

Mostly, patriotism is an expression of gratitude for the rights, privileges and freedoms one enjoys from a government that, for all its flaws, is the greatest guarantor of individual rights out there. It is showing respect and honor to a system that almost always does far more for us than we do for it. Patriotism is simply good manners.

God Bless America.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:05:06 +0000

Patriotism is a love of the country, not necessarily the country’s government. As a soon to be USN sailor, I support my country and work for it’s government. I agree with the general consensus. A patriot wants what’s best for his country and is willing to die to improve it and protect his loved ones and his(or her) ideals. Saying your country’s government is right when they are clearly being unjust, is not patriotism.

By: Florian Schneider

Florian Schneider — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:59:11 +0000

Patriotism is NOT obedience

By: Marlon

Marlon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:30:54 +0000

To me, patriotism does not mean loving your current administration. Far from it. It means caring about your country. Caring about one’s country can sometimes be opposing the actions your government is currently taking. People that take an active role in their country, whether that just means informing yourself and voting for what you believe is right, donating to a candidate/cause, or protesting are patriotic.